Stepping into 0827, Garcia seemed to have just finished bathing. Her morning exercise sportswear had been replaced with a red and white martial arts robe, and her cheeks still showed the redness from the hot water. Coupled with the excellent appearance inherited from the Wimbledon family, and a head of wet, shoulder-length gray hair, she gave off a dazzling impression.
“Want something to drink?” She shook the cup in her hand.
He remembered the first time he came to her house, her face was still wearing a cold indifference that kept people at a distance… Of course, it wasn't much softer now.
“No, thanks.” Roland said amiably, “Do you have a match today?”
“Have you ever seen an athlete getting dressed at home? Pre-match warm-up is one of the most important preparations for a player.” Garcia poured herself a glass of milk and sat down opposite him, “Even the most rundown sports hall has a locker room – sometimes I really doubt if your common sense has been swallowed by 'Erosion'.”
“Haha…” Roland covered it up with an awkward laugh, “I thought martial artists would be more special.”
“In the eyes of the public, it’s no different from other sports, just more exciting and the prizes are more generous.” She shrugged, “The reason I’m wearing this trial robe is because I’ll need to use the influence of a martial artist later.”
“Oh? Filming an advertisement?”
“Going to a protest march!” Garcia said unhappily, “Don’t you read the newspapers? The Sanye Group is demolishing the walls of Tongzi North Street today. If we don't stop them, the next target of those people will definitely be the Tongzi Building, and your home will become a ruin at that time.”
Uh… He almost forgot about this matter. “Then… good luck.”
“You–!”
“But I'm a newbie who hasn't played a single game, has zero fame, and doesn't even have a trial robe,” Roland put on a regretful expression, “It wouldn’t do much good even if I went.”
“People make the difference, understand?” Garcia pulled out a list from the coffee table and slapped it in front of him, “Look at the people on the list, how many are martial artists? They are all grassroots residents of the Tongzi Building, but they are still willing to protest with me! If we choose not to speak out because we don’t have a name, then everyone will ignore our existence!”
Looking at Garcia’s stubborn face, Roland couldn't help but be touched. Whether facing the Erosion from another world or ordinary life, this seemingly cold woman was actually more enthusiastic than most people in her heart.
Does she lack a place to live? Of course not. The background of a wealthy family, a star martial artist, and the controller of natural power, any of these could easily allow her to buy a building in the city center. What she is doing is not for herself, but for the other residents in this old community – most of them are ordinary people, earning meager salaries every month, but enjoying the benefits of the surrounding developed facilities. Once they are moved to the new district in the suburbs, the quality of life will undoubtedly drop several levels.
Although he knew that these were all illusions born from the dream world, and the residents in the Tongzi Building were all defeated individuals whose souls had been swallowed by Jieluo, as the world gradually changed in an unknown direction, he became increasingly uncertain whether his initial ideas were necessarily correct. Indistinguishable illusions are no different from facts in a sense. For example, it is difficult for him to regard the shining woman in front of him as a hollow shell. The longer he stayed in the dream, the stronger this feeling became.
Anyway, he already brought it back, consider it a thank-you gift, it wouldn't hurt to accompany her.
Just as Roland was about to agree, a familiar name on the list suddenly caught his eye –
“Baluo Luote Ximu”.
That was the unique name of the devilish resident living at 0510.
In all the resident information collected by the witches of Taqila, this long string of characters was particularly noticeable, so he didn't miss this information with just a glance.
Roland’s heart skipped a beat. The appearance of a devil's name on the list meant that it would also leave the Tongzi Building and participate in the protest march with the martial artist – this seemed to be a great opportunity to catch a glimpse of the other party's memory fragments.
“Cough, cough, I have an appointment with someone this afternoon…
…So I can only support you spiritually.” He looked away, pretending not to see the other party's expectant eyes.
If it were a normal person, they would probably exchange the rights of reading the book for cheering for this time.
But Garcia didn’t. She just stood up angrily, “I should have expected that it’s a waste of words to talk to you.” After saying that, she quickly walked into the inner room, then came out holding an old red book.
At first, judging by her posture, it seemed that she wanted to smash the book in front of him, but in the end, she changed it to gently placing it down because she couldn't bear to. “This is the one that Master often mentioned. Now that you've got it, you can leave too!”
Roland casually flipped through the cover, only to find that there was no name in the author column, only the word Unknown.
“Does no one know who wrote this?”
“If they knew, why would it be written as Unknown?” Garcia replied stiffly, “Among the many collections in the association, its most famous feature is not the content, but the person who wrote it. It is said that the person died before finishing writing it, and the association couldn’t find any records about him.”
“Died while writing it?” Roland was stunned. Did he die from a sudden illness? He originally wanted to chat with the other party privately – half a century was not far away, and if he was lucky, the author should still be alive. But even if he was dead, there shouldn’t be no news at all. At that time, the file system had already been popularized, especially since the other party was a martial artist who had awakened the power of nature.
Something seems wrong here.
“What’s the matter, are you scared?” Garcia taunted, “You wouldn’t have remembered those ghost stories entangled with curses, would you? Don't worry, at least there is no evidence to show that people who have read it will die, otherwise you wouldn’t have been recommended by me to become a martial artist. Of course, if you don’t dare to read it, I won’t laugh at you, and I won’t publicize it either.”
No, you definitely will…
Roland picked up the book and nodded to her, “Thank you.”
“Hmph.” Garcia turned her head away and didn’t reply.
Returning to 0825 as quickly as possible, Roland locked the door from the inside as soon as possible. The protest wouldn’t officially begin until the afternoon, he still had several hours to satisfy his curiosity.
The title of the book, as Garcia said, was called "The Reason for Existence."
The cover was the red kraft paper that was unique to that era, and it seemed to be wrapped with a thin piece of wood inside, so it looked very solid. Roland originally thought that since it was related to the gods, the content must be divine and half-understood. Unexpectedly, when he opened the first page, his attention was attracted by the other party’s neat and beautiful penmanship.
The right side was sentences, the left side was photos or abstracts, and there were numbers below. The two corresponded extremely accurately, as if this was not a prophetic work, but a rigorous derivation of a treatise.
Most of those photos were already yellowed, and the abstracts were basically from newspapers and magazines. In today's era where the internet is widespread, it is difficult to see handwritten documents and illustrations made with scissors and glue. The whole book revealed an old-fashioned atmosphere, but the content was surprisingly smooth and easy to understand, and there was no sense of estrangement when reading it.
The first sentence in the book was, "We have been deceived by the gods."